Seahawks pick Tapp in second round

Published 10:00 pm, Friday, April 28, 2006

It took him 4.8 seconds to run 40 yards, an eye-blink or two slower than most teams prefer.

Those were the reasons Tapp was still available when Seattle picked at the end of the second round. It’s just that neither of those facts was very important for the Seahawks, who chose Tapp out of Virginia Tech with the 63rd pick. “Some teams will have probably just wiped him off the board right away,” president Tim Ruskell said. “We counsel our scouts not to do that. We ask them to look at the player, and maybe there is something more there. And this was a case of that.”

Tapp had 10 sacks as a senior at Virginia Tech and 18.5 sacks over his final two seasons there. He played well at the Senior Bowl, competing well against top-tier talent like D’Brickashaw Ferguson, the Virginia offensive tackle chosen with the fourth overall pick of the draft by the Jets.

The selection of Tapp concluded a day for the defense in Seattle. The Seahawks chose cornerback Kelly Jennings from Miami in the first round with the 31st pick, drafted Tapp with the second and called it a day for the defense.

Seattle had only two draft picks in the first three rounds of the draft on Saturday. The Seahawks lost their third-round pick to Minnesota as compensation for signing wide receiver Nate Burleson, who was a restricted free agent. Seattle will have four picks over the final four rounds of the draft on Sunday.

Both of Seattle’s first-day picks were used on defensive players. Did John Marshall, Seahawks’ defensive coordinator, feel fortunate?

“My wife says I’m fortunate,” he joked.

But seriously, those picks are going to provide a boost.

“They’re both going to log considerable time,” Marshall said. “But they both have great opportunities to be in starting roles.”

Jennings was a player Seattle had hoped would be there with its first-round pick, but Tapp was an unexpected bonus.

“We did not think he would be there, honestly,” Ruskell said.

In fact, had Jennings not been available when Seattle chose in the first round, the Seahawks were considering trading down into the second round to pick Tapp. As it was, Seattle pulled off a successful double play.

“I am very happy,” Ruskell said.

And each selection showed that size is nothing but a number in the Seahawks’ scouting appraisal, and not a very important number at that.

Jennings is a cover corner, who weighs 180 pounds, which is a little light by some team’s standards. And Tapp comes up a little bit short of some team’s standards, too.

When Ruskell was at Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers initially had those kind of codified standards.

“You would see too many players go elsewhere and play well,” Ruskell said.

So the Buccaneers initiated a change in philosophy.

“When we took Warrick Dunn, everybody criticized us for that pick as, ‘He’s too small, and he can’t be an every-down back,’ “ Ruskell recalled. “But the guy has such a great heart, and he is one of the toughest guys, pound-for-pound in the National Football League, and still is.

“When you have enough examples of that come to your team and do well you just kind of forget about that.”

Seattle’s defense is built upon speed over size on the defensive line. Tapp played his senior season at 260 pounds, but Bryce Fisher nor Grant Wistrom each weigh fewer than 275 pounds. And Tapp is taller than nosetackle Chuck Darby.

But size isn’t a perfect measurement of success. “If you get caught up in height, you’re going to miss something truly special,” Tapp said. “That’s what I’m going to try to do.”